The Olfactory Proboscis Extension Response in the Honey Bee: A Laboratory Exercise in Classical Conditioning

The beginning neuroscience or psychology student does not often have the opportunity to experiment with classical conditioning. Here I present an inexpensive, easy-to-implement classical conditioning experiment taking advantage of the proboscis extension response to train honey bees to learn an appetitive olfactory association. If an apiary is available, this exercise can be implemented in large scale (training many animals simultaneously) with no specialized equipment so that students can train insects to recognize and respond to a specific odor within the time constraints of a single laboratory classroom session. The proportion of bees that successfully learn the association (40-50%) is considerably lower than in systems utilizing specialized equipment, but the learning is quick and robust enough to clearly demonstrate that learning has occurred. The exercise also lends itself to easy modification to allow alternative learning tasks to be attempted (e.g., multiple odorants, alternative modalities, etc.). Furthermore, this exercise proved to be highly engaging to students.